Member Spotlight: Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD)

Is there anything more important to a desert community than water?

Formed in 1918 to protect and conserve the precious commodity of local water and its sources,? Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) in California is a multifaceted agency today. CVWD delivers irrigation and drinking water, collects and recycles wastewater, provides regional stormwater protection, replenishes its groundwater basin, and promotes water conservation. The district currently provides water services to 113,000 homes and businesses within the Coachella Valley in Riverside County, with boundaries also extending into small portions of Imperial and San Diego Counties.

The farmland in Coachella Valley is the second largest contributor to the local economy, known for its dates, citrus, grapes, and bell peppers — and generates nearly one billion dollars annually and roughly 12,000 jobs. Thanks to the Coachella canal, CVWD delivers about 260,000 acre-feet (72.8 billion gallons) annually of imported water to some of the most productive farms in the world and delivers water to more than 1,200 irrigation customers.

Coachella Valley is also a popular destination for tens of thousands of seasonal visitors to enjoy championship-level golf, tennis, polo, swimming, and hiking — these vibrant industries are possible in the desert due to the district’s responsible water resource management system.

This month, AMWA Director of Communications and Utility Management Programs Antoinette Barber and Marketing and Events Coordinator Wingel Caburian spoke with CVWD Assistant General Manager? Robert Cheng to discuss his journey in the water sector, the utility’s?Disadvantaged Communities Infrastructure Task Force?and sustainability management practices, and the importance of the agricultural industry to CVWD.

Since 2013, Dr. Cheng has served as Assistant General Manager for CVWD. In addition to his active participation on AMWA’s Management and Sustainability Committees, he currently serves as Vice Chair of the Water Utility Council for the American Water Works Association . He has a Bachelor and Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from 美国加州大学洛杉矶分校 .

The Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) has highlighted some of the responses from the conversation with Dr. Cheng below.?

AMWA: What was your journey like getting into the water sector?

RC:?I want to start off by saying: I never thought I’d be here 30 years later. During undergraduate and graduate school, I went through engineering with every intention of going to medical school, but I stumbled upon the water sector by accident. While I was finishing my Ph.D. dissertation, my laboratory partner asked me if I had any interest in taking a short-term job at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. I told myself: “Why not?” That is what started my water journey. I started performing a lot of water quality work which supported the implementation of drinking water regulations, including arsenic, disinfection byproducts, and surface water treatment in the 1990s.

AMWA: Do you sometimes regret not going after medicine?

RC:?There are times when I think about it because being in the medical field means that I get to have that personal touch point with patients. However, I think what we do in the water space is equally important because we provide a central health service on a much larger scale. We take care of issues behind the scenes that most people don’t think about and without safe drinking water, society would not have access to what we enjoy today.

AMWA: In a way, you are a water doctor. Public health and most sectors are very dependent on water.

RC:?I think you are absolutely right! It took me a while to realize that and one of the defining moments for me was the?1993 Milwaukee Cryptosporidiosis Outbreak?— it emphasized the huge impact of the water we deliver and of course, the importance of public confidence.

AMWA: Trust and public confidence are huge topics with AMWA members. Can you elaborate on what actions CVWD takes to build trust with its customers and community?

RC:?After working for three different utilities, I believe the ultimate trust is built from simply doing things the right way — when customers don’t have to worry about what we’re doing behind the scenes. While it’s not necessarily a good thing, an empty board meeting means that our customers are not experiencing any issues. Oftentimes, customers who do show up to board meetings are dissatisfied because they are concerned about something. I believe that is the practical reality.

In addition, transparency and the level of customer service you provide are other important aspects of building customer trust. At CVWD, we provide more than just drinking water, we also provide a significant amount of water services to our agricultural customers. When something breaks down, you want to have that high level of customer contact because without it, the relationship you have with these customers, and their confidence in you will erode. Lastly, I believe public outreach and public contact are also hugely important. In CVWD, we use metrics that measure how fast we resolve customer call issues.

While it may not seem like it, the behind the scenes efforts are the foundation. It’s important we ensure the stability of CVWD’s long-term contracts so our customers don’t have to worry about running out of water, and they trust that we will deliver their water safely and reliably.

AMWA: Can you elaborate on your public outreach programs?

RC:?At CVWD, we believe that you can never start telling the water story too early, so we do a lot of outreach to local schools with on-staff educators who discuss the water cycle. Pre-COVID, we provided more school tours through our utilities, so students learn two things: the importance of water and the career stability of the water sector. The tour highlights the importance of water by explaining the process of how they receive their water, which re-emphasizes that it is a vital resource that doesn’t occur on its own. As the water and wastewater space aren’t popular options within students coming into the workforce, the tour provides the students with an awareness that the water sector is a great place to build their careers providing stability and delivering an important resource.?

AMWA: As you mentioned the necessity of water, please discuss what measures CVWD takes to combat climate change issues.

RC:?Growing up in Tennessee, I viewed water differently and saw it as more of a nuisance because of its potential for floods. Until I moved to California, I never had a sense of how water is portrayed in different parts of the country — there is a lot more consciousness about the value of water. However, you want to think about it, water in the Southwest is different. We have to be deliberate about how we manage and conserve our water.

For example, we built a canal to replenish the local groundwater basin with imported Colorado River water, so we have to ensure that we are preserving what we have. We make an effort to know when and where to give and take, and to advance the interest of the basin as a whole. It’s a lot of problem solving, but on a whole different level because of the huge consequences it may have.

AMWA: Obviously, one of the areas in your community -and across the country- with far-reaching impacts is farming. Can you talk more about the importance of what you do to agriculture?

RC:?While agriculture plays a large role in California's economy, I believe it goes beyond the economic and financial aspect as there is also a huge supply chain issue we need to fulfill. After working at municipal water agencies such as Metropolitan and the City of Long Beach, I have come to view agriculture differently. I think the farming community has gotten a stigma that they are water wasters, but nothing could be further from the truth. For example, we have a 123-mile canal that transports water from the Colorado River. Once that water is in our valley, every one of our agricultural customers are metered, similar to our residential customers, and we know how much water they’re using. Over 60 percent of our service is on drip irrigation, which is arguably the most efficient way of irrigation and is mostly paid by the farmers themselves. There are no offsets or subsidies, so they recognize how important it is. I believe we are among one of the most efficient agricultural districts in the country, with the losses in our irrigation system quantified at less than 6 percent.

AMWA: You serve a diverse community — with agriculture in the mix. Can you talk about how your?Disadvantaged Communities Infrastructure Task Force?helps better serve your ratepayers?

RC:?It is an important initiative for us. We believe that there is a human right to water. We see communities that don’t have access to our water or wastewater services, and it’s a concern to our Board members. It is a part of our strategic planning process, and setting up resources, internally, to go out and seek for non-ratepayer revenue to pay for some of these efforts — these could be in the form of grants, low interest loans and also alternative financing mechanisms. We know how difficult the application process is for these loans and grants, but we believe it is a worthwhile effort for the communities we serve.

AMWA: All your efforts earned CVWD a first-time AMWA?Sustainable Award?in 2022. How does CVWD successfully apply sustainable management practices?

RC:?I believe this ties in with our conversation earlier about customer service and trust. One of the things I love about the water sector is that we’re blind to the population and income in the service area — CVWD is no different. You get some affluent areas but fundamentally, houses that cost millions vs. houses that don’t cost as much still need the same levels of service, reliability, and water quality. We believe that someone from a higher tax bracket shouldn’t be enjoying better sustainable water services than others with a lower tax bracket. All these efforts tie in with building customer trust and sustainability because we are working towards having a water supply for today and into the future.